Morehouse School of Medicine and Clark Atlanta University (both historically Black degree-granting institutions), and Grady Health System join Emory University in seeking funding to strengthen existing partnerships through the development of "The Grady Center for Health Disparities." This Center proposes to directly address health disparities through a comprehensive center for research, training, and outreach with unparalleled expertise and resources. The population served by Grady Health System, as well as the Atlanta community, is particularly stricken by these disparities. It is our primary objective to develop resources at Grady such that it is elevated to a nationally recognized center of health disparities research. The Center's programs will be located at Grady Memorial Hospital within the newly developed Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence. While many of our project focus on cancer, we believe lessons learned will translate to other diseases. There is profound need for academic investigation of health disparity for blacks in Atlanta. The HIV death rate among Black Georgians is more than seven times higher than that of white Georgians. While Black Americans have higher death rates than white Americans in eight major cancer types, NCI surveillance data shows that Black Atlantans have a death rate 4.20% to 40.35% higher than black Americans. This data mandates the establishment of the Grady Center for Health Disparities, devoted to the study of root causes for these disparities and interventions that will improve outcomes and reduce disparities. This proposal brings focus to existing already funded minority health activities, leverages current resources and expands existing collaborations between some distinguished institutions with long records of service in minority health. The major aims of this center include 1) the development of a clinical investigation center at Grady; 2) the collaboration between funded research to spin off new ideas in reducing health disparities; 3) nurturing new ideas and minority investigators through pilot studies in health disparities; 4) educating the populace through outreach activities; 5) training of minority faculty and post-doctorates to train in health disparities; 6) training of minority undergraduate and graduate students in the biomedical sciences.